A new initiative at Duke is introducing interested and undecided minority students to the world of banking on Wall Street.
The Careers in Finance Initiative was started by Emma Rasiel, director of undergraduate studies and associate professor of the practice in the economics department, in conjunction with the Career Center to help inform minority students about banking careers.
Rasiel, who was an executive director in the London office of Goldman Sachs prior to her teaching career, said she was struck by a lack of minority employees-particularly black and Hispanic ones-while working with banks on Wall Street on their recruitment strategies.
"When I was in New York over the summer talking to banks about this program, one of the things that kept coming up was that it's very hard to recruit minorities into banking," she said.
Yolander Albert, associate director of the Career Center, said many minority students come to Duke with either a premed or prelaw focus but change focuses late in their Duke careers.
The new program aims to market to freshmen so it will not be too late when they realize that they may not want a career in medicine or law, Rasiel said.
She added that if freshmen spend time coming to the initiative's events and doing their own research on banking, they could possibly make good candidates for internships no matter what their majors are.
"My point is you don't have to be an economics major to do this and to perform well in this environment," Rasiel said. "But you do need to have learned something about banking and finance. My goal is to enable as many Duke students as possible to do that through extracurriculars."
Adrienne Everett, a senior who interned with JPMorgan Chase over the summer, is working closely with Rasiel to recruit students and organize events for the initiative. She said the skills developed from a banking internship can help in a wide spectrum of careers. The exposure to markets, social networks and businesses is helpful in more than just banking careers, she added.
So far, the initiative has hosted two events for students. The first event, held in September, invited several minority upperclassmen who had done banking internships to talk about their experiences and attracted about 25 freshmen, Rasiel said. For the second event, Rasiel invited minority bankers from several companies to come speak and answer questions posed by students.
Edwin Wright, a black freshman representative of the initiative, said the two events have already changed many of his views.
"I was going to be an economics major just because I had to, it was more of a necessity," he said. "But now I feel like, after hearing [the bankers'] stories, that you don't have to major in economics to do business."
Another black freshman representative, Morgan Kirkland, said the events so far have helped her realize that financial careers aren't just about numbers. She added that learning about job opportunities like traveling overseas made the internships seem more appealing to her.
Future plans for the initiative include a reading group in the spring semester that features books about finance and others events still in the planning stages, Rasiel said.
"We may incorporate visits to Wall Street firms and to trading floors for those who stick with the program and really show an interest in the industry," Albert added.
Rasiel said she also hopes to include more sophomores and juniors in the initiative by offering help in preparation for interviews with Wall Street banks.
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